April 17, 1989
Kirtland, Ohio
Self-professed prophet Jeffrey Lundgren has the Avery family, including their 3 daughters, executed after claiming God commanded it
Lundgren and around 2 dozen followers began a new doomsday church as an offshoot of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (now called the Community of Christ) which itself was a small church which had splintered from the Church of Latter-Day Saints.
Lundgren believed one of the families, the Averys, were not faithful to the church and resented the family not contributing more of their money and possessions. After claiming God demanded a sacrifice to prepare for the Second Coming, the Averys were invited to eat dinner with Lundgren. After eating, they were bound and gagged with duct tape, brought to a pit one by one, shot to death, and dumped in the pit.
Dennis Avery (49): shot twice in the back
Cheryl Avery (46): shot three times in the torso
Trina Avery (15): shot once in the head and twice in the body
Rebecca Avery (13): shot in the back and thigh
Karen Avery (7): shot in the head and chest
The children were likely murdered before their parents as the children’s bodies were found under their parents’. Each body was found with duct tape wrapped around their heads, hands, and feet.
Lundgren was executed October 24, 2006. Twelve of his followers received prison sentences, including his wife Alice who claimed Lundgren routinely held a gun to her head to intimidate her. The accomplices received between 18 months to 150-life, depending on how active their roles were in the murders, kidnapping, or obstruction of justice.
